Living on next to nought - is that the key?

kackleful · 15 February 2014 at 10:57PM

Hi there G P, I just wanted to say how much I love reading your posts here! Especially your wonderful recipes and the photos are fantastic! I too am mainly eating a veg diet, I am in Australia, and our food is a lot more expensive over here! I stopped eating meat about 3 years ago, mainly because I found it way too expensive for me, and now I just wouldn't touch it! I feel so much better with out it! Thank you for sharing your life with us, im 65, single and live a very Frugal life-style,just me and my Kitty, and I just love coming on here and reading about everyones way of living, have been lurking for awhile, so thought it was time I said hi!bye for now, and I will look forward to your next post!

Greying_Pilgrim · 16 February 2014 at 9:52AM

Good Morning :hello:

Well, Hellooooo Australia :wave: kackleful how wonderful to *see* you. Is it just me, or is anyone else still slightly in awe of the fact that is it easy to communicate with folk so far away??? Thank you for popping by and for your lovely comment

I watched a Simon Reeve (tip top English bloke) documentary about Australia and the price of food came up on that - plus of course, your dear Rhonda Jean talks about it (and how to get round it) all the time. Thank you for de-lurking - don't be a stranger, as you know, the gang here are luverly

Well, I'm :jafter a wonderful night's sleep

Dinner last night was indeed Pumpkin Goulash with rice.

It was OK, never gonna set the world on fire fare, but it was cheap and cheerful and tasty, so it was worth cooking. Picture here;

Half a butternut squash (and yes, I did buy 3!!!!) Ald* S6 25p, 75g red lentils 15p, onion and garlic 10p, 2 carrots 10p, a red pepper (jarred) 20p, paprika and smoked parika and fennel/cumin 10p, Rice 15p. So £1.05p for 2 portions and a small amount of goulash left over for snap. So 45p a portion?? And yes, Dear Reader, it is a travesty that in a household that produces HM yoghurt, there was none available when goulash was on the menu!!! :rotfl:

Right, we've chores to attend to today, so I'd better shift a tail-feather.

Dinner this evening - from the veggie student book again - is baked eggs...... not too sure about this, as I've avoided all manner of Mediterranean, Asian, middle eastern versions of this dish thus far, and now I'm doing a student version.....:rotfl:

I'll be looking to see if I can cook Bob's banana cake as well, as I'll have no eggs left - i'm pretty sure banana cake is usually egg free isn't it?

I shall be aiming for a NSD - watch this space

Thank you so much for popping by, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Karmacat · 16 February 2014 at 12:22PM

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Karma - in the words of Phil, from 'Hill Street Blues'.... 'Let's be careful out there....'

:hello: Transport was a mess - rail replacement buses to the east, delays north and south on the trains, points were flooded out, but really, a delay of 20 minutes on an optional train journey is something to be grateful for, with a deluge of these proportions :j

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Totters in and coughs quietly........

:grouphug::kisses3:

Um, dear lady, You often pay it forward before there's a hope of helping you. And, I'm sure you'll think of someone which as always is so kind.......:A

I can name several occasions whereby you've helped me and the womble lands abundantly without any way of repaying you. (and I refold my napkins abundantly when I can - some of which are bound to new homes soon as well as a thank you):A and I'm sure there are several others who can claim to have had a wee note from you that's just cheered up our lives.

Yep, well put, Pippi, and very true.

kackleful wrote: »

Hi there G P, I just wanted to say how much I love reading your posts here! Especially your wonderful recipes and the photos are fantastic! I too am mainly eating a veg diet, I am in Australia, and our food is a lot more expensive over here! I stopped eating meat about 3 years ago, mainly because I found it way too expensive for me, and now I just wouldn't touch it! I feel so much better with out it! Thank you for sharing your life with us, im 65, single and live a very Frugal life-style,just me and my Kitty, and I just love coming on here and reading about everyones way of living, have been lurking for awhile, so thought it was time I said hi!bye for now, and I will look forward to your next post!

She's wonderful, isn't she, kackleful! :T And there are plenty of us at around that age now. I dare you, post a pic of Kitty! Would love to see

Greying, you'd love it here right now - cloudless blue sky! There was a frost, of course, because of the cloudlessness, but its so lovely its worth it.

Greying_Pilgrim · 16 February 2014 at 9:00PM

Good Evening :hello:

I hope you have all had a lovely day, as have we.

Hey Karma - someone was smiling on us and we got the 'yellow ball & blue skies' too

We had to run and errand, out to the other side of the metropolis that took us into the countryside - so that was no real hardship

We have re-jiggled the fence, and it is a little less wonky now. It needs replacing, but we need an extra hand to do it, and they seem consistently busy 'elsewhere'.......

I can claim a NSD - into double-figures :j But didn't really walk too far anywhere to discover any roadkill

Dinner this evening was baked eggs. And I made no cake as even banana cake needs an egg it seems

Mmmm, I have a feeling I was right, and I don't care if you call them baked eggs, menemen, shakshuka, eggs in purgatory........ I don't like them

I wouldn't like them 'barely cooked' as all recipes advocate, and I don't see the point of them over-cooked (as I ended up doing them

) - there are much better ways to serve eggs. This is a dish I will not be repeating

although it was one of my five 'firsts' this month

Picture here;

I liked the ragu, I liked the grilled/baked polenta, but the eggs.....

Cost-wise, too much!!!! :rotfl: 1 carton of passata 29p, onion/garlic 10p, several YS'd mushrooms 15p, 1 YS'd courgette 20p, 1 red pepper (jarred) 30p, paprika and herbs 10p, polenta 17p a handful of peas/sweetcorn 25p = £1.57 or 78p a plate :eek:
And that doesn't include the power for the oven

Back to lentil Bolognese and smart price pasta tomorrow :rotfl:

So, today I am grateful for these 3 things;

for sunlight and blue skies - it made a world of difference

for volunteer organisers and 'doers' - and for the time and effort that they put in behind the scenes. We'd be lost without them.

that 2 separate incidences of 'bravado' didn't end in tragic accidents today - maybe their guardian angel was watching... who knows, but they were both equally and separately damn stoopid.......

Thank you so much for popping by, reading and commenting. I continue to appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS · 16 February 2014 at 9:12PM

Hi Greying, it's certainly been a fantastic day - blue sky, sunshine and glorious spring air :T

I popped to the library today and took out a copy of Moro, plus a veggie book, the name of which escapes me, based on cooking with spice. I've only glanced through the Moro book, but already have a few recipes ear marked to take up back up copies. You never know they may need 'disaster recovery' recipes at some point and I can step in to help out.

Have a good week, Tilly x

satchmo1 · 16 February 2014 at 10:12PM

Pilgrim, I adore your attitude of gratitude, thank you for sharing it with us.

I have several times suggested to my DH that he keeps a gratitude diary, but unless he sees it written in one of his "self help" books I doubt if it will ever take hold. In truth, he doesn't know how lucky he is, his troubles are in the far, far away land of the distant past, but not viewed as such.

Greying_Pilgrim · 16 February 2014 at 10:43PM

Just sneeking in with a pic of dessert...................

Pretty sure that is the last of the donated apples used up out of the freezer now

So gave them a good send off, paring with foraged blackberries and using shared oven-time

Plus you'll notice the oats, bulking out the crumble mix :money:
Hey Tilly - lovely to see ya. Mmm, intrigued as to the spice book, I see Paul Merritt has a new spice book out, Stevie Parle did one with Emma Grazette, based on their TV series, and I got a book on spice out of the library by John Gregory-Smith... Any of those?

You have a good week too hun

satchmo - it's become really important to me to include the gratitudes. And it does help with perspective too. I'm sure it is easier to remain upbeat overall - even if you come up with only one 'grateful' in a day that otherwise sucks. Much the same as sometimes 'one criticism grows into a chorus of damnation' - if you dwell on it/let it, sometimes the reverse is true and the one grateful reminds you that good stuff does happen too..... on a pretty regular basis.

Right, I'm away to bedfordshire to get 'in shape' for the week ahead......... :rotfl:

Greying

in_need_of_direction · 16 February 2014 at 10:47PM

That dessert looks yummy. I love custard

Karmacat · 16 February 2014 at 11:55PM

Yep, that dessert looks beeyootiful

and as for the eggs, well, you might be *wondering* now, if you did or didn't like them ... and now you know

Best I can come up with to cheerlead, sorry - I'll get me coat!

Greying_Pilgrim · 17 February 2014 at 8:25AM

Good Morning :hello:

ha ha Karma - don't worry

I'm sure that there are plenty of people that would like the dish. All those folk that like dipping toast 'soldiers' into their soft boiled egg for one

It just wasn't for me, and I wish i'd made the narnar cake now :rotfl:

So, fresh new week, Monday already. The radio is reporting from somewhere in Surrey, where the residents are still wading about in 2ft of water in their homes. I just cannot contemplate how absolutely soul-destroying that must be - especially as they are saying they have had little or no help. 8 sandbags delivered 4 days after the houses flooded??

I'm going to try for a NSD today.

Lentil Bolognese and smart price pasta for dinner. Still from the veggie student cookbook, and actually our normal recipe - so not too much of a stretch!

Right, best get a wiggle on.

Thanks for popping in, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Living on next to nought - is that the key?

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